Just because Bush and the GOP repeat their story a million times doesn't mean that they are correct. A new report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says what the Democrats have been saying all along. The planning was poorly organized, leading to chaos in Iraq.
Thanks to inadequate planning, the report said, early occupation officials lacked enough reconstruction staffers who knew what they were doing.
While reconstruction has cost American taxpayers about $30 billion three years after the overthrown of Saddam Hussein, the country still lacks reliable electricity, water and other services. Monday's report Â? covering the time the country was under control of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority Â? said early efforts were greatly affected by personnel problems.
"Pre-war reconstruction planning assumed that Iraq's bureaucracy would go back to work when the fighting stopped," it said. "When it became clear that the Iraqi bureaucracy was in widespread disarray," occupation authorities "had to find coalition personnel to perform these tasks."
"The U.S. government workforce planning for Iraq's reconstruction suffered from a poorly structured, ad-hoc personnel management processes," the report said, calling hiring practices "haphazard."
